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Nice carrots & chard, Camp! I'm not having much luck with chard for whatever reason this year. Maybe I should plant now some for fall and try again since it's always been prolific in the past. Is your chard Fordhook?

I was surprised at how much yesterdays hail chewed up the garden,especially the leaves of the canna lilies, beans & peas which are in tatters.

This is a Molly squash photo that I grabbed on my way to my car this morning:

My chard wasn't doing great either and I think it is because the compost was low on nitrogen. I started feeding all the leafy greens and everything is looking much better. This morning I picked what was out there.

All my other greens are doing well except the chard. Matter of fact this weekend I wanted to transplant the few homely looking chards that I have in this box to a different box of homely chards so I could take this box down, but then the hail came and I'm wondering if it's even worth it now:

Maybe I'll pick off most of these torn & holey leaves & transplant the stubs...

Interesting. Usually you don't want to use too much nitrogen because it promotes green growth & not enough fruit, but if the fruit IS the green growth, then bring on the nitrogen!

The blooms are second year leeks that I let flower to encourage mid season pollinators to visit.

Last night I found my first curled cucumber. I have 4 hives at the moment, so you wouldn't think that would be a problem. Maybe all the bumblebees are drawn to the bull thistle. (They even sleep on there)

CELEBRITY STATUS! Well, you've done it now, camprn. Here come the paparazzi. Have you chosen a good press agent yet?

GardenGroupie - That I don't know, but excess nitrogen seems to kick the green foliage into gear, but the fruit itself, I don't think so. I think that's the problem with too much nitrogen - you get huge green leafy matter, but not a lot of fruit.

Interesting. Usually you don't want to use too much nitrogen because it promotes green growth & not enough fruit, but if the fruit IS the green growth, then bring on the nitrogen!

That is interesting. Do you think that also applies to tomato fruit that seems to have stopped growing?

Thanks,Garden Groupie

no, not really, only to foliage.do a bit of research on nutrient requirements for promoting bloom. Stalled fruit growth is another thing to look into. If you are having overall problems you may need to fertilize with a balanced fertilizer.

@NHGardener wrote:What are those bulbs among your leeks seedlings, camprn?

A few leftover shallots that I found that were not planted in the spring. There are 10 of them tucked in there. This will work because the shallot roots are shallow and the leek roots are 6 inches down into the 8" high box.

Excellent interview, camp. Well done! So you're planting shallots now, eh? I plant my shallots on Halloween with the garlic but I thought the rest of NE did it in spring. Will this be an experiment for you?

@CapeCoddess wrote:Excellent interview, camp. Well done! So you're planting shallots now, eh? I plant my shallots on Halloween with the garlic but I thought the rest of NE did it in spring. Will this be an experiment for you?

No, this is no experiment, these one will be done before winter. I don't plant shallots to overwinter here.